Global Innovation - The Paul Merage School of Business - University ...

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
14
experience INNOVATION
MEETING OF MINDS
Executive Education’s Custom Programs spark dialogues
between senior managers and experts in their fields.
But, it all begins with listening.
By Connie Clark
NEWTON MARGULIES LISTENS.
While many professors of his experience
spend their days lecturing,
writing, or otherwise imparting
their extensive knowledge, the
Professor Emeritus and Associate
Dean of Executive Education keeps
his silence. And for organizations
like Ingram Micro and UCI Medical
Center, that silence is far more
than golden. By listening, Margulies
pinpoints company needs and
creates highly customized management
training modules to improve
business practices.
At Ingram Micro, Margulies and
his team listened to senior executives
who wanted deep training for
high potential managers around
the globe. Margulies organized a
team of Merage faculty experts
who worked with Ingram Micro
executives to design the sequence
and content for the training modules.
The result is the Ingram
Micro Leadership Academy. Now
held every January, the Academy
brings together 25 senior level
managers for intensive dialogues
with professors and experts in
their respective fields.
Custom Programs offer far more
than training, Margulies insists.
“You can send a couple of your
senior managers to a seminar for a
week and they’ll listen to lectures,
maybe get into a small group or
two. We want executives to return
with innovative solutions for the
real issues they’re facing. When
you get an entire management
“ We want executives
to return with
innovative solutions
for the real issues
”
they’re facing.
team involved, they come back
with real solutions. They also get a
chance to meet each other and
network. That’s invaluable.”
At the Leadership Academy,
managers are teamed with faculty
who are grounded in research and
theory in each particular content
area.
“Theory — people are afraid of
that word,” Margulies says. “But
truthfully, when business practice
merges with theory, things start to
happen. Real issues get solved.”
Customization is another key to
the success of the program. When
the executive management team at
UCI Medical Center wanted management
training for their top
physicians and department leaders,
Margulies and his team developed
training modules that directly
addressed day-to-day issues.
Success
Is the program successful?
Executives reply with a resounding
“yes.” But the best measure of the
success, according to Margulies, is
that companies return year after
year. “Business challenges;” he
says, “we never run out of those.”
Margulies won’t stop listening —
and responding — to those challenges,
either.